


Still Jack and Daniel - Full Circle - V The City of the Ancients

by Annejackdanny



Series: Still Jack and Daniel Series 3  - Full Circle [5]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, The Highlander Series
Genre: Atlantis AU, Kid Fic, Little Daniel - Freeform, M/M, h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-18
Updated: 2013-01-18
Packaged: 2017-11-25 23:00:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/643882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annejackdanny/pseuds/Annejackdanny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam Pierson is visiting old friends in Paris, Jack gets friendly with Atlantis and takes the Daniels on a trip to the mainland</p>
            </blockquote>





	Still Jack and Daniel - Full Circle - V The City of the Ancients

**Author's Note:**

> I took the liberty to make Atlantis my own playground, so this isn't strictly canon Atlantis. I also changed the mainland in drastic ways.
> 
> Crossover with The Highlander - but you should be able to get by if you don't know the series, too. And if you're in the Highlander fandom, be aware I took liberty to change that canon as well for the purpose of this story.

**Still Jack and Daniel**

– 

**Full Circle**

**V**

 

**The City of the Ancients**

  
  


**Prolog**

**Paris**

The St. Julien le Pauvre church was one of the few places Adam still visited regularly whenever he stayed in Paris. He admired the architectural style - simple, yet elegant. Built in the 13th century, St. Julien’s was one of the city's oldest religious buildings; a former Roman Catholic church, later re-built as a Melkite Greek Catholic church. It was old and small compared to the huge basilicas like Notre Dame or Sacre Coeurs. 

Adam Pierson appreciated the feel of age and the solitude it offered. Paris was hectic these days. St Julien’s, however, never seemed to change. It was a quiet place, not overrun by tourists, and he liked coming here every once in a while; not because he was nostalgic, not that. Not because the little church still seemed to hold the spirits of two old friends. One long gone to see the light, the other one... who knew? 

_You could find him_ , an unwelcome voice whispered in the back of his mind. _Just ask Joe where he is and he’ll tell you in a heartbeat._ He squelched that voice before it could become more than a whisper. There was no point. 

Adam wasn't nostalgic; he had brushed off most of those petty feelings a long time ago. He liked St. Julien’s because it was old. Old suited him well. It had seen more eras gone by than any other building in a metropolitan city full of historical locations. 

He leaned back in one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs of the front row, tipping his head to gaze at the high vaulted ceiling. Over by the altar, candles lit as if touched by an invisible hand as Adam tilted his head, their flames illuminating the iconostasis. 

He felt her presence before she made herself known, but didn't acknowledge it in any way. Only when she slid past him, tendrils of light slowly morphing into the physical form of a woman beyond her thirties, but attractive nevertheless, with long ginger hair, did he briefly close his eyes in annoyance. 

“What now?” he asked with an air of boredom, still looking at the ceiling.

“They have entered the city,” his nightly visitor replied snidely.

“Have they now? And who might have given them the gate address?” 

“Ba'al's host told them,” she said stiffly. “The child was about to die. It was their only way to save him.” 

“And Ba'al got this knowledge from... where?” Adam finally looked at her, mildly admiring her vivid, angry green eyes, envying that – even after all those eons she had lived – she was capable of simple human feelings like anger, passion, compassion - and showed them so openly. 

Oh, he was quite capable of those emotions, too. But he rarely felt it worth while to crank up the energy to let them surface. Feelings often led to the inconvenient need to act and get oneself into some kind of peril. He could do without that. 

She crossed her arms over her chest. “The child was about to die,” she repeated sharply. “Not even you can be so indifferent as not to care. He was never meant to die. Ba'al had dissect his mind...” 

“And Aiyana shielded him, yes, I know. It doesn't explain why dear Oma even mentioned Atlantis in the first place when she gave him the knowledge. It wasn't part of the plan,” he said.

“Daniel needed to learn about the Ancients from the beginning to understand,” she replied sourly. 

“Fine. So he knew about Atlantis. Doesn't mean Aiyana had to give him the gate address,” Adam muttered.

“The prophecy was very sketchy in details, you know that. And as things developed he needed to go to the city to survive.”

Adam sighed. “So, Daniel is well, the evil has been perished. Mission accomplished. Will you leave me be now and not come back?” 

“They can't go home,” she said urgently. “They are stranded in the city. Aiyana and Ganos Lal can't help them any further. They have already done too much. Sooner or later The Others will step in. They are keeping a close eye on Oma, too. The fall of Anubis has aroused suspicion among them that the Tau'ri had more help than permitted.” 

He rose to his feet, buttoning his black woolen trench coat. “Excellent. They'll be fine. Have a nice life.” 

“After all they have done, they can’t just be abandoned and left behind,” she said. 

He strode toward the doors, feeling not as recharged and at peace as usual after visiting the church. “They are together and there are plenty of worlds for them to settle down in Pegasus. What more can they want?”

 _Being together is a lot more than I can ever have_ , he thought with an unwanted pang of malevolence – not because Jack O’Neill had found love, but because Adam Pierson hadn’t had the luxury or bane of commitment of any kind in a long time. 

“They want to go home,” she insisted.

“Home is where the heart is, or so they say,” he replied airily, pushing the heavy double doors open, breathing in the cool night air. 

“Then I assume you have no home. Since you have no heart,” she spat.

He suppressed another sigh. Women. They were so persistent. This one in particular. There had been a time when she had worshiped him. Long gone, but fondly remembered. 

“Methos,” she addressed him by his given name, her voice suddenly soft, almost a purr. “We can't walk away from this.”

“Oh, yes, we can, Cassandra.” He left, the door closing behind him with a bang. He had meddled in all this way more than he’d intended to. _Methos_ had retired a long time ago and Adam Pierson had a right to just live and let live – unless someone was literally trying to behead him. Then he'd call it self defense. Otherwise he considered himself being out of the game. Any game. 

He opened his car and slipped behind the wheel when she appeared next to him in the passenger seat with a flashing of light. 

He scowled at the inconvenience. “I am not responsible for Oma's wrong doings. And I have done what I could to help erase her error of judgment. That's a lot more than I was willing to do, by the way. What else do you want?”

“We owe them.”

“Oma owes them. Not me.” He had worked hard to overcome any feelings of conscientiousness or sense of honor, just like the nostalgia. There used to be someone in his life who was even more persistent than Cassandra in trying to unearth that sense of honor in him. 

Not anymore

“You owe _me_.” She said almost tenderly, but with an air of danger in her voice.

Okay, so maybe he HAD a sense of honor. But his debts were paid. 

”I will help them,” she said when he didn't respond to her threat.

“The Others will stop you.” 

“At least I will know I tried to do the right thing,” she replied, the sharp edge back in her voice. 

He shook his head. “Jack and his Daniels are better off staying where they are now. The Tau'ri aren't ready to send their scientists and military to Atlantis. It’s not meant to be. The less anyone knows about it, the better.”

If they returned home to tell what they found, the military would try to find others carrying the gene - and there were others. Humanity would crawl all over the city to figure out its secrets. Sooner or late they were going to blow something up, encounter the Pegasus version of the replicators or....

“They will eventually wake the Wraith if they stay,” Cassandra cautioned, verbalizing what would have been his next thought. 

“There is a flaw in your logic right there,” Adam said smoothly. “Now they are just three people. They hardly count as a feast for the Wraith to feed on. They’ll be fine if they just settle down somewhere. If half of Stargate Command trudges through the Atlantis gate, however...” 

“Yet, it is the city of their ancestors,” Cassandra continued quietly. “They have a right to take it. Maybe the Tau’ri will rid the universe of the Wraith once and for all if they bring enough force and backup. They are resourceful and defeated the Goa'uld. Maybe it is time for Atlantis to be inhabited again. Time to continue the fight against the Wraith.” 

“The Tau’ri are like little kids in a sandbox,” Adam snorted. “They are going to fool around with technology and knowledge they're not ready to encounter yet.”

She brushed back her ginger hair and gave him a surprised look. “Do I hear a shred of responsibility?” 

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. All I want is to be left alone and continue my meaningless peaceful life. The more things stay the same, the better. The Goa'uld are gone and the Tau'ri don't need Atlantis. Jack O'Neill is a mother-hen. He'll find a lovely new home away from home for them. Now... will you just go away?”

She smiled at him. “The boy holds the key to eliminating the replicators. They will be next to threaten this meaningless peaceful life you are so fond off.”

Oh, those damn spirits that they'd cited... Stupid Lantians and their half cooked ideas....

He gave her a sour look. “Oma gave him that, too?”

She shook her head. “Aiyana did. She managed to give him the information without alerting The Others. You should be proud of her. She is quite sneaky that way.”

“Lovely.” Adam grimaced as he started the car and steered it along the Seine. 

“You know, sometimes I’m very tempted to take your head,” Cassandra said coldly. 

He gave her an indulging smile. “You can try. But what’s the point?” 

“You’d lose this body you’re so fond off,” she reminded him sweetly. “Your life on Earth would be over.” 

And he’d be stuck elsewhere, yes, he was aware of that. Condemned to eternal boredom once again. He was a bit rusty; it had been a while since he’d taken his last head. However, Cassandra was well aware that beheading him wasn’t that simple. There were no secrets between them and she knew he had the means to destroy her even after his head was gone. 

She pursed her lips and gave him a sideways glance, but didn’t push the matter. 

He touched a button on his CD player and Queen's “Play the Game” started. He could handle most Tau'ri technology without pushing buttons or using remotes, but over the eons he had honed his human status to perfection and rarely used his ability. It had become second nature to suppress powers and only use them if necessary. Or if he wanted to give himself a break – like lighting candles in a church when no one else was around. 

“Have you made a decision?” Cassandra asked after a long stretch of silence. “Where are we going anyway?”

“Joe's,” he said curtly. 

She raised her curved eyebrows. “Have you heard of Duncan lately?”

Pierson felt his eyes narrow. “No, I have not. And I have no desire to change that.”

“He would convince you to help. He was always good at digging out your human side,” she said softly.

“Keep Duncan out of this,” he warned sharply. “I'm in need of a drink. You're not coming along. Joe might ask weird questions if he sees us together.” 

She nodded. 

“Don’t make any rash moves,” he advised her, putting just enough of a warning into his voice to let her know it wasn’t a request. “Stay away.”

“We will see,” she said. 

_Oh, bloody hell..._

She vanished instantly, in a shimmer of pristine whiteness. 

A moment later he parked the car and entered Joe's, skimming the room for familiar faces – a habit he wished he could brush off since the one face he hoped and loathed to see was never here anymore – and slumping on one of the stools at the bar. 

Joe was washing glasses and looked up briefly, then took a double take and a wide grin appeared on his lined, bewhiskered face. “Adam? Long time no see!” 

He smiled briefly. “Whiskey?”

“You bet. On the house. Where the hell have you been?”

“Oh, you know, here and there.” He grimaced and shook his head. “I changed my mind. Got any Guinness?”

Joe's grin became even wider if that was possible. “Yeah, sure.” The beer was tapped and placed before him. “How long are you going to stay?”

Adam took a long swig of his beer, relishing its freshness and licking the froth from his lips. Beer was just one of many simple joys he cherished too much to be willing to give up. “Actually, I'm just traveling through.”

“Well, it's great you stopped by. Any particular reason?” Joe's eyes twinkled with humor. He asked this particular question every single time Adam showed up here on his rare visits to Paris. 

And every single time Adam replied, “No, just wanting to see an old friend.”

Joe nodded and tapped himself a beer. They drank in companionable silence as Adam scowled into his glass. He'd been so sure he had played his part in the Ancient's game of pawns and scheming and was off the hook.

Murphy's law dictated: Nature always sides with the hidden flaw. 

**I**

_He was flying again._

_The gate hopper whisked across the city and Jack could feel vibrations rippling all through his body as it passed spires and buildings. It was night. The city was dark, only a fat moon loomed in the sky._

_Okay, this was cool. And how exactly did he get here? He reached out, with his mind, to gently adjust speed and altitude to get a better look at the city._

_The front window of his nifty little ship doubled as a HUD, giving him data as he approached one of the spires... and slid straight through its walls to find himself inside, still hovering, still moving._

_What the... Text scrolled down before his eyes as he slowly moved through the rooms, entered transporters which were beaming him to other places... Lights turned on, displays sprang to life... Jack tried to take it all in, and then realized he didn't have to._

_It came flowing into his mind like a steady stream of whispered words and images._

_His natural habit of trying to block it all out and fight the invasion of alien intel had him trying to steer the gate hopper away, head back to the gate room, back to a place where he’d be safe... away from the Ancient intelligence reaching out to him..._

_But he was flying and he had always loved to fly; being in the cockpit, cherishing the excitement prickling in his nerve endings as he continued on his journey, almost against his will, yet mesmerized by it._

It is safe _, he heard Big Daniel's voice whispering,_ I want you to try and make a real connection... 

_Yesterday’s mental blow up had made Jack vulnerable. His barricades had come down. He was open now, even if only for a short time, for Atlantis' tries to approach him._

_Atlantis was feeding him with information as he continued this weird trip in and outside the towers. He had a memory flash to Euronda with that neural interface aero fighter technology. This was a little like it, even more so than the gene connecting with the gate hopper. Jack was connected to Atlantis now and Atlantis was giving him the virtual tour complete with tour guide and overwhelming boosts of intel._

_Intel he soaked up and filed away._

_Slow and steady he was flying, hovering here and there, then moving again... and finally his journey was coming to an end as he soared above the city, admiring its serene beauty..._

  
  


...Waking up was like emerging from a deep, warm ocean. Sleep withdrew like the flood on low tides, leaving Jack in a gentle, cozy state somewhere in the twilight between dreamland and the real world. 

Something soft tickled his nose and without conscious thought, he rubbed it against warm skin. The body he was spooned up to moved slightly and Jack followed the movement, somehow aware he didn't want to lose an inch of that contact. 

His arm snuck around, his hand settling on a flat stomach, fingers curling in the fabric of a t-shirt. Jack's nose was tickled again and he buried it in Daniel's hair, breathing him in. 

_Hold on a minute..._

Why was he in bed with Jackson?

This first coherent thought was quickly followed by the returning memories of where they were, what had happened and...

With regret he untangled himself from Jackson who seemed to tense for a moment before he flopped onto his stomach and started snoring softly. Jack opened his eyes, giving their quarters a quick scan.

_Where the hell..._

He scrubbed a hand over his face, grimacing at the whiskers on his jaw and cheeks. He sat up, determined not to panic again. He'd made an ass out of himself yesterday already; no need for a repeat performance. 

The open balcony door gave him the first clue and as he padded out there on bare feet he spotted LD sitting on the tiled balcony floor, legs dangling over the edge, stuck through the openings in the metal banister. 

Jack settled down beside him. “Hey, buddy.”

Daniel smiled at him. His hair was tousled from the mild sea breeze and he looked refreshed and upbeat. “There are dolphins, Jack!”

Jack's eyes followed the outstretched finger and saw them as they jumped through imaginary hoops and dove back into the ocean. 

They watched in comfortable silence as the animals played. Jack thought of ways to make a fishing rod, positive that the dolphins wouldn't mind sharing their fishing grounds with them. 

“Jack? What are we going to do today?” Daniel asked. 

Jack wriggled his toes and looked down, trying to estimate how far up they were in this tower. Pretty high, that was for sure. Atlantis had many spires, but it seemed none of the others were as high as the one housing the gate and the ship's hangar. There was something he wanted to do later, but first he needed to make up for one of his less brilliant parental actions. 

“You still want to talk to that hologram?” 

“I've been thinking. You said yesterday she wasn't a hologram. Maybe the Ancient who posed as it is still around,” Daniel replied thoughtfully.

“Oh, but you know they're not exactly overly helpful.”

“She did help you. She pointed you to the resurrection chamber. BD told me.” 

Jack scowled. “Yeah. How nice of her.” 

Daniel sighed and gave him a sideways glance. “I know you're mad at them. But you have to accept their boundaries. It's their way of life.”

“What about Oma? She breaks the rules all the time,” Jack said sharply. 

“She's following her own agenda.”

“Which – is?”

Daniel started swinging his legs, apparently thinking hard. Then he said, “Her goal is to help people who're worth it – in her eyes – to ascend. She and Aiyana, and maybe the Ancient who posed as the hologram for you, believe that the lower beings – us – have a right to ascend and be taught how to achieve enlightenment. Aiyana told me all this when you were trapped on Anubis' ship and I found out The Others used to be Ancients. They had once been humanoids like we are. So what they could do, we can do as well. It goes against the whole non-interference rule, yes, but she's hand picking those people herself and they always have a choice. She chose evolution over stagnancy.” 

“Okay, when she picked Anubis she got busted for it. And then she suddenly remembers the rules and can't get rid of him herself?” Jack had a hard time understanding this weird-ass agenda of values. 

Daniel put on his lecture face. “Oma got punished for what she did by The Others. She had to watch Anubis doing evil for eternity. And that's just the point – she wasn't allowed to stop him, I think, in order to keep doing what she does. To follow her route of helping people to ascend, she accepted that punishment.” 

“Yeah, see, that's just not...”

“She believes in what she does very strongly. Maybe it will have some relevance in a distant future we don't know about. Anyway... she needed us to stop Anubis for her,” Daniel said. “And because of the non-interference rule she couldn't just come out and ask. Just like Aiyana couldn't just come out and tell you how to save me. Or how the weapon worked. Or how to get home now. They have to be very careful in order to slip under The Others' radar. All they can do is give us hints and point in the right direction – and even that is frowned upon. But they have found ways around being detected up to a point.” 

“What are you saying?” 

“Twice now Aiyana has slipped into me. While in the form of pure energy the ascended Ancients can meld with humans. Oma did it with me after Reese almost killed me. And I... I did it with you in the gate room when I was close to ascending myself. I'm not sure how it works, but they can meld with you and share their thoughts. Like Oma shared all the knowledge with me and then manipulated my mind so that it stayed in my subconscious until it was needed.” 

“Yeah, I remember you... in the gate room.” How could he not? It had been the weirdest thing. First the fear of losing the kid, then being joined with some energy version of Big Daniel... mind boggling couldn't even begin to describe it. 

Daniel nodded, probably remembering it himself all too clearly, and then continued. “I think Oma orchestrated the whole prophecy. She probably led us to the planet where I got littled, too. Though I have no evidence or reasoning for that.”

Jack grimaced. He'd been wondering on and off over the last two years, if Oma had had an active hand in Daniel's second childhood adventure. 

Daniel said, “This Cassandra of the Donan Wood is supposed to be some kind of seer. A... witch, if you will. Cassandra told Pierson about the prophecy and Pierson somehow got into the SGC. And that’s another mystery right there. Where did he come from? Who brought him in? He's a well known anthropologist, yes, but there had to be a reason he was asked to work for the program. Maybe Oma gave someone suggestive dreams, slipped into people’s minds, to make sure Pierson was put in the right place when he was needed.” 

“Pierson watched you,” Jack said, recalling what the Brit had told them in Egypt. “He watched you and waited for that particular mission to happen. To lead you into the temple...”

“Doorway.”

“Whatever. To lead you there so you could find the Ygglediggle...”

“Yggdrasil.” 

“Yeah, that. He said he didn't know there was a piece missing. Said he didn't get the whole prophecy, only bits and pieces. But he'd been in on Oma's game from the start if what you're saying is true.” 

“Yet, he was just a pawn like all of us,” Daniel said with another nod. Then he frowned. “But something doesn't add up.”

“What?”

“Pierson said Oma actually visited him because he refused to listen to Cassandra. He said Oma visited him and told him to help. If that's true, she made a direct approach.”

“There! See! She can break the damn rules when it suits her!” Oh, Jack would like a word with her about that, among other things. 

But Daniel wasn't convinced. He looked puzzled. “Maybe he lied. Maybe he only told us Oma visited him to make us believe him. He probably thought we weren't buying into a prophecy by some witch originating in Scottish Highland legends.” 

“Scottish legends? Oh, right...”

“The legend says Cassandra was an orphan, born 1000 BC, and adopted by a healer of a tribe somewhere in Sinai. 963 BC, her tribe was invaded and killed by another myth called the ’Horsemen', the four riders of the apocalypse. Cassandra is believed to have been stabbed to death by one of them, but she came back to life. It's a bit sketchy from there... the most reliable book I know says she was taken as a slave by one of the horsemen and lived with them until she escaped. There're no records of what she did for the next thousand years or so, but later she was believed to live in Donan Wood in Scotland. It's said she's a master of delusions and a seer and basically she's the cliché of a witch.”

Jack pursed his lips and they exchanged a look. “You think what I'm thinking you're thinking?”

Daniel shrugged. “She might be an Ancient who ascended at one point in the past and re-took human form for some reason.”

“To give Pierson the prophecy?”

“I don't know. I don't even know why Pierson would know about the Ancients in the first place since he hadn't been involved with the program very long before he sent me into the doorway on Tink'ah's planet. Or why the Ancients would approach him about a prophecy involving me.” 

Jack still thought these Ancient characters were way too cryptic and he was still cross with Oma for letting them do the dirty work for her. They had paid a high price for this battle. 

The dolphin-like creatures had left the scene and Jack watched another flock of birds flying by. They were much closer than yesterday and Jack wished he had his binoculars to get a closer look. The light breeze carried their high-pitched screeches over to them. 

“So you still wanna talk to the hologram?” Jack went back to the starting point of their conversation.

“If you'll be so kind to give me permission, sir.” Daniel gave him the tiniest of pouts. 

“Ouch.” Jack winced. “Permission granted. Look, kiddo, I'm really...”

“You don't have to worry, I won't go there on my own,” Daniel cut him off. “You and BD can stand guard over me and slay any pesky, green-skinned aliens that threaten to harm me.”

“All right, that's enough. I know I screwed up and I'm sorry,” Jack said, torn between annoyance and feeling properly chastised. “And no, you're not going there on your own. Or anywhere else for that matter. Got it?” 

Daniel nodded. “It's okay. I just had to say it.”

“Yeah, I guess I deserved that,” Jack muttered, squinting into the morning sunlight. 

“I really wasn't going to leave, you know. I was mad because... because... I don't really know _why_ I was mad. But I wasn't going to,” Daniel pulled a face as though he'd sucked on a lemon, “disobey you. My plan was to act like the brat I am and stomp into the bathroom to sulk for a while, just to make you feel bad for yelling at me.” He sighed. “Not such a good plan, huh?”

“We were all a bit on the edge yesterday,” Jack said, giving Daniel a lopsided smile.

His eyes softened behind his wire-framed kiddie glasses. “You look better now. Are you okay?” 

Jack contemplated this for a moment. Was he okay? He felt a lot more like himself than he had since Ba'al had taken them on this trip to Netu. Having his carefully built walls torn down had left him with his feelings too close to the surface. But that, too, would pass. He liked his walls; they were part of him, like an inside skin. And every time they were cracked or removed he felt naked, out of kilter, for a while. 

But he felt better. The Daniels were probably the bane of his existence as much as they were enriching his life on so many levels. They kept bringing out the worst and best in him. The occasional tearing down of walls was a part of it he could live with. 

“I'm okay,” he said finally, holding LD's slightly worried gaze. “I'm good. What about you?”

LD shrugged. “I’m fine.” 

Jack rolled his eyes. “I know that’s your favorite line...”

Daniel rolled his eyes back at him. “I’m fine, Jack. As in fine-fine.” There was a flicker of something in those eyes; something Jack couldn’t quite put his finger on. But it was gone in a flash and Jack was inclined to put it down to the rough couple of days they had been through. 

Lingering cobwebs of memories; Ba’al. Ancient overrides. 

_And after all he’s been through you had to come down on him like that._ Jack knew there was no point in dwelling on the guilt. They had all been out of it, it happened and they’d move on. Yet, he wanted to put it right and make up for it. 

“Can’t wait to stick your nose into every corner of the city, eh?`” Jack reached out and ruffled the blond mop of hair.

“No, I can’t. This is an archeologist’s dream come true. It’s Atlantis, Jack. It’s probably the reality of the myth.” Daniel smiled and then nudged him. “Look, Jack! More birds.” 

Another flock was passing by, some of them flying on their back, sailing across gracefully. Jack watched them becoming smaller and smaller as they were continuing on their journey. Then he remembered what he'd wanted to do. He rubbed his hands in anticipation and pointed at the sky. “Where there are birds, there's land.” 

LD's eyes grew big. “Of course! Well, unless they're birds who only live on the water and don't need land. After all we're off world.”

Jack frowned. “Well, Mister Negative, there's only one way to find out.” 

“What way?” LD asked, puzzled.

Jack gave him a huge grin. “C'mon, let's wake Sleeping Beauty and I'll show ya.”

***

Of course first they had to take showers, dress properly, have breakfast and all the while Jack would just grin and be smug when Daniel asked, demanded and finally – almost - pleaded to be told what the big surprise was. 

BD wasn't a big help in trying to get Jack to talk as he was grumpy and mourning the lack of coffee while he chewed on his chicken and cheese sandwich. 

Jack said he'd known that the worst of being stranded here would be the non-existent coffee, which was answered by BD giving him dirty looks.

Little Daniel hated to be without coffee, too, but he'd been up for ages, trying not to give in to the temptation to explore Atlantis on his own. He was well past the coffee mourning part of his day. He was eager to leave their quarters and see what Jack wanted to show them. 

Finally BD was awake enough to share the enthusiasm. 

Jack handed Daniel a Zat and reminded him to switch his body shield on.

“Oh! I should have done that yesterday,” Daniel quipped as he pressed the sensor on his shield to a low setting. He couldn’t help using the teasing as some kind of payback. Just a tiny little bit. 

Jack adjusted his P90 and scowled. “I'm never going to live that down, right?”

BD grinned. “Maybe you should take it home with you, Daniel, just in case.”

“And maybe you should get one of those too, Doctor Jackson,” Jack growled as he brushed past them to open the door. He checked the hallway, then beckoned them to follow. 

They trudged back to the gate room and the ship still parked in front of the gate. Jack opened the backdoor and they all settled down in the row of pilot seats.

“Watch and be impressed,” Jack announced, back to being smug. He placed his hands on the controls and the hopper started to ascend.

Daniel leaned forward to look out the front screen as the distance to the ground grew larger and larger until they exited the gate room through an opening in the ceiling and arrived in a ship's hanger. 

Daniel spotted at least four more gate hoppers. 

But Jack didn't stop there and they rose even higher.

Suddenly they were out in the open, surrounded by blue skies and sunlight. The little ship described a curve and soared above the city in a wide circle. 

“Woohoo,” Jack shouted.

“That's so cool,” Daniel exclaimed. Now he understood Jack's excitement about possible land. 

“You didn't know about this yesterday?” BD asked, his eyebrows climbing upwards, as they took another round over the city. 

For the first time they were able to get a grasp of how big it was. There were walkways between spires and buildings; some on the ground, some on higher levels. Daniel couldn't see any means of transportation though and he wondered if the city had transporters to get people faster from one section to another. 

“Nope, had no idea. I knew there was a hanger, but not that there was a way outta it,” Jack said and made the hopper zip across the ocean and away from the city. “When I woke up this morning I just knew. There's other stuff, too.”

“Like what?” BD asked. “What else did you find out?”

“Those power sources the city needs to operate? The Ancients created them and they weren't supposed to deplete, just like Daniel said. I tried to figure out if there's a way to recharge them. Again, as Daniel said, no can do. But, Atlantis' database is huge. We might find something useful in there,” Jack said.

“Are you saying you can link with Atlantis and go through its database now?” BD asked, flabbergasted.

“Can you ask it what you're looking for and it'll show you?” Daniel wanted to know. “I can tell you every bit of its history. How it came to be here, how the Lantians seeded life and encountered their worst enemy, how and why they had to leave again... but Oma didn't give me any technical details, so this is all new to me!”

“I can't go through its database just like that,” Jack said. “It's too big. What it gave me was...” He paused and frowned. “An understanding of the basics. I have a better grasp of what is where. I could lead you to any point in Atlantis you want to see.”

“Is it alive?” Daniel whispered in awe.

“I don't think it's alive perse, but the Ancients who lived here gave it some kind of personality. The parts of it that had to be linked with their minds to function are trying to connect with me,” Jack seemed a bit uneasy again, but far from freaking the way he had yesterday. “I'm... probably, possibly, almost,.. maybe... sure it won't try to hurt us.” With a sideways glance at Daniel, he added, “Not _intentionally_.”

Daniel got the message loud and clear, but before he could reply to it, Jack went on, “At least that's what I think. It communicated with me while I was asleep and I remember these bits. It also gave me a pretty cool rundown of weapons and shields. It has drones. And the shield keeps anything at bay that might try to attack us.” 

“Amazing,” BD murmured.

“Oh, yeah.” An evil grin appeared on Jack’s face. “Fucking am-ah-zing.” 

The gate hopper did a sudden forward jump, raced toward the ocean, causing Daniel to shriek. The water was sliding by right underneath them as they gained even more speed. The ship did a splash and dash, the froth of the crest waves splattering against the hopper's front screen. 

They pulled up again, shooting into the sky like a launched rocket, higher and higher.

“Yeewww-haaaaah,” Jack yelled and Daniel threw himself back in his seat, laughing hysterically at the three shades of green BD seemed to turn and at the earsplitting grin on Jack's face. 

It was a moment so bright and carefree, like they were racing away from all their troubles and issues, and there was nothing but the sky and the ocean. Blue on blue. Wide and open. And Daniel’s heart did a little leap and he wished they could keep on flying and flying and that this moment wouldn’t end...

The gate hopper came to an abrupt halt in midair and did another of those little jumps. Then it swished straight ahead again, and into a loop. 

“I hate you,” BD ground out.

“No, it's great,” Daniel blurted out. He wanted Jack to do it again. And again. He felt a wild triumph about being alive, being back from that deep end Ba’al had thrown him in. He was grateful. He looked at Jack and they laughed, the tension forgotten, drained away.

“Yeah, I hate _you_ , too,” BD grumbled, but then joined in the laughter and his color returned to normal. Suddenly he leaned forward in his seat. “There! There's land!” 

Minutes later the gate hopper touched ground as gentle as a feather and Jack checked the view screen. “A beach to walk on, no bigger life signs in or outta the water, all clear,” he informed them after a moment. Then he kept checking other things before he finally announced it was safe and sound. 

Still, the P90 went with him and Daniel made sure his body shield was still turned on as they exited the ship and set foot on the beach. 

“Yes,” Jack said with feeling. “That's how other planets are supposed to look like.”

“This looks like something straight from a travel magazine of Hawaii,” BD mused, waving at the scenery with the Zat. 

Little Daniel knelt down and let the white powdery sand run through his hands. It was warm and soft. He stood and took in the palm trees wafting in a light breeze, the turquoise shade of the ocean with water so crystal clear he could see every rock and every bit of wafting seaweed, every piece of coral. The beach seemed to stretch endlessly to either side with nothing to disturb its beauty. 

They listened to a chorus of chattering birds in the trees and Daniel spotted a bunch of scarlet parrots sitting in the palm crowns. They kept nodding their heads as they cawed. It looked like they were having a debriefing of some kind. 

“And there are no people here?” BD finally broke the silence. 

“Nope. There used to be people, but those Wraith took them all,” Jack said.

“The enemy. That's what they were called. The Wraith,” Daniel remembered.

“So this is,” BD turned in a slow circle, “paradise and we are the first men, huh? Anyone running across a serpent offering apples – don't fall for it.”

“I see coconuts.” Jack pointed his gun at another palm tree. “Anyone hungry?” 

“Why, you going to climb up there and pick them?” BD asked.

“I was going to shoot them down,” Jack said, raising his gun and aiming carefully. 

The single shot silenced the birds and drowned out the roll of the waves, but only momentarily. By the time they had gathered around what appeared to be a cluster of hand-sized coconuts the bird's chatter had resumed.

Jack used his knife to open one, which was a lot easier than they'd expected. The shell was softer, not as thick and hard as Earth's coconuts. They sniffed and decided the milk smelled just like coconut milk. 

“Are you sure we can eat them?” BD asked, doubtful.

“Yep,” Jack said, widening the opening. He put the nut to his mouth and drank the milk. Smacking his lips, he confirmed, “Cocos.” 

“How do you know they're not poisoned?” BD insisted, weighing one of the nuts in his hand. 

“I just know,” Jack said, handing BD his knife.

“He just knows,” Daniel grinned. “Go figure that. Yesterday he was sure Atlantis was trying to kill us all.” Jack gave him a scowl and he raised his eyebrows. “Hey! You're the one preaching caution all the time!”

“All right. The gate hopper has some kind of database and since one of our more pressing goals is to find edible plants and animals, I checked it,” Jack admitted. 

“Oh, good to know. I thought you turned into some kind of all-knowing-Ancient expert over night,” Daniel teased and BD grinned perkily as he opened his coconut. 

Jack said, “You're the ones telling me to trust this Ancient crap. Now I'm doing it and you're still whining. Can it and eat.”

Daniel exchanged an amused look with BD and they both followed that order with gusto. The coconuts were delicious. They each had two of them as they were sitting on the beach watching the ocean rolling in. 

“Let's take a walk and see what we got here,” Jack said after a while. “According to the gate hopper there should be a pond and a waterfall not too far from here. I want to check out the wildlife, too.”

“Go hunting?” BD asked.

“Fishing?” Daniel added. “Maybe we can have a fire and roast some trout on a spit.”

“Atlantis has pantries,” Jack said thoughtfully. “Freezers and kitchens, too. So, depending on how long we're gonna be there we have to look for ways to preserve food. We can dry or deep freeze stuff, though we have no zip-log bags which makes it a bit tricky. The easiest way to get a warm meal is to come out here, hunt something and take it back to cook. But I'd like us to have at least a stock of food for a couple days in advance in case the weather gets bad or something.”

Daniel sighed. “Why can't they have food replicators like in Star Trek?”

BD snorted. “Star Trek?”

“Teal'c is really into it. Sometimes I watch with him when he's assigned to _babysitting duties._ ” 

Jack shuddered. “I’d rather not have any replicators anywhere near me, even if they’re just replicating food.”

“Why? You think replicated food might attack us, like the bugs?” Daniel asked with a grin.

“Never trust anything that can replicate,” Jack advised, then said, “I'd like to stretch the MRE as much as possible. So we better see what we have to work with, kids.”

“And here I thought I was going to read Atlantis history records all day long,” BD said with a put upon sigh. “Instead I'm going to hunt, fish and smoke-dry meat?” 

“The joys of basic survival,” Jack said with a grin and stood. “Off to work we go.”

“Hi ho hi ho,” Daniel muttered as he followed the other two on a natural path into the jungle. 

What they found was like a whole picnic basket full of food for the taking. The path led alongside dense banana-like fruit trees and Jack said he had seen those on the gate hopper’s list of edible food. After approximately twenty minutes of hiking the path widened into a glade covered by bushes full of plump red berries that tasted a lot like wild strawberries, but were at least twice as big. 

The glade was enclosed by small date trees and larger palms with more of the coconuts. 

Daniel spotted the scarlet colored birds everywhere; they seemed to hop from tree to tree, curious to see what those weird newcomers were up to. Other mammals scurried away from them, but not in haste. A squirrel-like thing with red bushy fur and a long tail was sitting under one of the bushes, gazing at them from beady brown eyes. 

They heard the waterfall long before they saw it; a constant rushing like falling rain. They stepped through a hanging curtain of Spanish moss - at least it resembled Spanish moss – and found themselves on a rock plateau right across from the water cascading down a craggy mountainside. Giant trees, covered by layers and layers of green and silver mosses stood close to the lake's shore, their strong and gnarled branches stretching wide above the water, the lichen's tufts of long filaments brushing the smooth dark surface. 

Daniel followed Jack and BD along the rock plateau and down a natural row of steps until they reached a small, sandy cove. Whenever the sunlight got caught in the wafting moss, the lake was dipped in a greenish light and myriads of tiny, fluffy pollen hovered in the air and settled down on the trees and the water. 

BD sneezed, Jack said, “Bless.”

Then they just stood there and watched the water falling and the pollen dancing in the sunlight. 

Mesmerized.

Until BD sneezed again and Jack took that as a cue to assign duties and get operation slave driver on the road. Of course Jack called it Basic Survival ops.

**II**

_This is great,_ Daniel decided when he was sitting at a campfire after hours and hours of work. He had rolled his pant legs up, taken off his boots and socks and was now watching the two huge trout-like fish turning on the spit BD had built. Daniel felt his mouth water at the sight and smell. He would have preferred pepper and salt with the fish, but he was too hungry to be picky. There was salt and pepper in some of the MRE packs back at the city, though, so maybe their next meal was going to be a little more spicy. 

They had worked hard to fill one of those pantries Jack had told them about. Jack and BD had gone hunting and preparing game most part of the day while Daniel had collected berries, dates, bananas and some kind of mushroom Jack was positive to be edible. 

Whenever Jack and BD had been out of sight for a longer period of time, they had held radio contact and Daniel had made sure he answered their scheduled calls right away. He wasn't going to let Jack's mother-hen radar go flying off the handle again. 

Now Jack and BD were gone, carrying the last batch of fresh meat to the gate hopper where it was kept cool until they could store it in the freezers. Daniel watched the fish, grateful he hadn't been involved in the whole bleeding out, skinning and gutting process of the meat. 

He wasn't picky and he had done his share of hunting and prepping game on Abydos, but that didn't mean he liked doing it. So he hadn't argued when Jack and BD had done all the icky work themselves and left him to his own duties, which involved not only picking berries and mushrooms, but also carving fishing hooks from cut off branches and braiding the long and apparently tear-proof moss filaments into a line. 

He had caught the two trout and prepared them himself, but that was okay. Gutting fish was much less bloody. 

Daniel glanced at the heaps of berries, bananas and mushrooms piled up neatly. If they had to carry all of this to the gate hopper without any kind of vessel, they'd have to traipse back and forth at least a dozen times. They had wrapped the cut meat inthose huge leaves from the banana trees to keep it clean and to make it easier to carry, but they needed some kind of bowl or basket for the strawberry-like fruits, the dates and the mushrooms. And as Jack had pointed out earlier; they didn't have Ziplocs. 

He looked at the makeshift fishing line lying on the ground next to him, and then over at the giant trees covered in lichen, an idea taking shape...

“A bath would be great,” BD's voice carried over to him and Daniel's train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of the huntsmen. 

“In that lake?” Jack said, doubtfully. “It's full of that pollen stuff. You'll just suffocate in it.”

They crossed the rock plateau until they reached Daniel and his fire.

“I'm sneezing. A little. Not suffocating,” BD corrected indignantly. “I don't get it. My allergies are mostly gone since...” He nodded at Daniel and they all knew what he meant. With the downsizing his hay fever had vamoosed, leaving him with nothing but a slightly itching nose from time to time. Apparently BD's nose itched from the lichen or their pollen. Daniel could feel it, too, but it wasn't bothering him enough to make him sneeze. 

“Yeah, well, when you start splashing around in that water, stirring it all up...” Jack settled down next to Daniel. “Something smells good.” 

“Yeah,” Daniel said, sniffing, “but it's not you two.”

Of course Jack and BD had washed their hands and knives in between taking care of the game, but carrying several pounds of raw meat back to the ship – even when it was wrapped in leaves - had them both reeking like a butchery. There were blood spots on Jack's pants and BD's hands and bare arms wore several undefinable dark spots.

Jack eyed the fish. “How long is that gonna take?”

“Probably another ten minutes,” Daniel said with a grin. “Time enough to get clean and presentable, Colonel O'Neill.”

“You heard the guy,” BD said, already getting his boots and socks off. 

Jack sniffed his hands, grimaced and followed suit. A moment later Daniel watched them as they made their way down to the sandy cove, only dressed in their not-so-fancy olive BDU boxer briefs. 

*** 

“Shit, this is cold,” Daniel gasped, freezing on the spot when the lake water splashed around his ankles.

Jack passed by him, chuckling, “You chicken.” Then he sucked in a breath. “Holy...”

Daniel snorted, shoveled up a handful of water and splashed it at Jack's back. “Who's the chicken now, huh?”

“Son of a...” Jack yelled, spun around and fired a volley of water at Daniel, hitting his chest. 

Daniel reeled back, laughing. He almost fell on his ass, but caught himself and got his footing back. He took a deep breath and dunked his arms into the water to scrub himself quickly. 

Here at the shore the water was shallow and covered by a blanket of pollen washed ashore, which made washing up a bit difficult. Soon the remainders of blood and meat juices were gone, but now the pollen were sticking to Daniel’s skin and he couldn't help but sneeze several times in a row. With an annoyed huff he splashed deeper into the lake where the pollen thinned out and the water reached his thighs. 

The water had a pleasant, almost silky, touch and now that he got used to the cold, Daniel enjoyed the refreshing wetness on his sun-warm skin as he splashed it into his face and over his head where it ran down his neck and back, washing off pollen dust and sweat. 

Beside him Jack was doing the same, sloshing water all over himself. 

Daniel straightened up and scrubbed at a grimy spot on his arm. “Going swimming would be nice.” 

“Yeah. Not a good idea though. Unknown water and all that,” Jack said with a shrug. He turned to Daniel, water trickling from his hair and down his temples. “Besides, I'm hungry.”

Daniel opened his mouth to reply, but was suddenly enchanted by Jack's wet skin glistening in the late afternoon sun. Daniel raised a hand, not able to resist; brushing his fingers through soft, damp silver hair, then trailing down the side of Jack’s face. 

Had Jack’s hair turned more silver over the last months or was it a play of the sunlight? 

“Hey,” Jack murmured, his eyes like liquid chocolate. 

“Hey,” Daniel replied softly, his hand sliding around Jack’s neck, fingers lacing around the chain of his dog tags. 

Suddenly, as though someone had shoved a dark lens over the sun, Ba'al's features were overlaying Jack's; his cold, yet feverish, eyes boring into Daniel. 

Daniel's fingers tightened around the dog tags – _Jack, this is Jack, not HIM -_ anchoring himself. Then, as quickly as it had happened, it was gone and the brightness of the afternoon embraced Daniel again. 

“The fish,” Jack said quietly.

“Huh?”

“You know... fish? Dinner?” Jack cocked his head, but he didn't step back. 

“Right.” Daniel nodded. “The fish.” Slowly, he pulled away, not sure what would have happened if LD hadn't been up there by the fire. 

Maybe more. Maybe nothing. He couldn’t tell. The short flashback to Ba’al had been like a bucket of ice water poured out over him, but it had passed and he hadn’t freaked. 

They walked back to the shore, and climbed up the rocky steps in silence, but it was a comfortable silence. 

LD was busy cutting the fish into small pieces and placing them on several large leaves he was using as plates. He looked up briefly and grinned, but didn't say anything as they settled down left and right to him.

They had the fish and more of the coconuts to go with it. It was a simple meal, but not bad at all, and it filled their stomachs so they wouldn't need MRE today. 

As they ate LD shared with them an idea on how to make baskets from the Spanish moss to carry all the fruit to the gate hopper in one go. “If each of us has a string bag, it should make this easier,” he said and pointed at the giant trees close to the shoreline. “The lichen growing up there looks much stronger than the flimsy stuff I used for the fishing line.” 

“You just want to climb trees,” Jack teased.

LD shrugged. “They're great trees. And easy to climb.”

Jack checked his watch. “Okay. Let's get up there and start working on it. We should get the meat back to the city soon, though.”

They finished their meal, dressed, and followed Little Daniel to the trees. The kid had been right; they were easy to climb and soon the three of them were sitting astride wide sturdy branches, cutting moss and slinging it around their wrists like long shawls of wool. It was a peaceful, relaxing chore and Daniel found himself more at ease with everything. One other upside was that he didn't seem to react to the moss on the trees, only to the pollen down in the water or wafting through the air, so he wasn't in need of a Kleenex box. 

***

“If Atlantis has kitchens, shouldn't it have washers and dryers, too?” Jackson mused while his fingers worked the braided lichen into a complex string bag. 

Jack held up his own lichen-bag which looked like a very badly put together patchwork doily. “You were right about the steam shower,” he said. “Doubles as a dry cleaner. You just have to change the settings and hang your stuff in there.” 

“You're pulling it too tight,” mini-Daniel said, pointing at Jack's lichen disaster. 

“What I wouldn't give for a parachute,” Jack muttered. “You can make all kinds of great stuff from a parachute. Shelters, traps, water filters, vessels... you name it.”

He tried to loosen the knots again, but it still looked far from being some kind of string bag, so he just shrugged, dropped it and watched as it tumbled down, landed and bopped gently on the water like a tiny boat. 

Jack leaned back against the rough bark of the tree they were sitting on. He was keeping an eye on their provisions down by the rock plateau, but so far none of the animals had approached their stash. Maybe it was the still smoldering fire keeping the wildlife at bay. 

He scrubbed a hand through his hair and let his right leg dangle from the tree limb he was sitting on. His boot scraped the branch beneath and some of the lichen fell down to join his wanna-be bag in the water. 

As he listened to the Daniels chattering about Ancient history, Jack watched three pairs of large butterflies engaging in a mating dance just above the water's surface. He checked his watch again. Soon it would be time to go. He had used the air conditioning in the gate hopper to keep the game as cold and fresh as possible, but it was getting late and he didn't want to wander around this place in the dark. As much as he felt at ease here, he wasn't going to take any chances of running into night active predators. 

“I want to ask the hologram about the very first Ancient who ascended and returned to human form successfully,” LD just said. “There’s a legend about The First One. Like the Unas were the first ones carrying the Goa'uld, this Ancient's First One is known to have mastered ascension back and forth long before anyone else did.”

“When exactly did that happen?” Jackson asked.

He was hanging on the kid's lips and Jack stopped watching the butterflies and the food. His eyes settled on his Daniels, deeply engrossed in their conversation as they continued working on lichen-bags. Their voices; one youthful exuberant, one mellow baritone, struck a chord in Jack and he had to close his eyes briefly at the painful knot in the pit of his stomach. 

If only he could... 

He silently cursed his thoughts for wandering off and tried to really focus on the conversation, to listen to the words, to stay in the here and now. 

“Actually, things are a bit sketchy, regarding The First One,” the kid said. “It's like Oma didn't know much about that, or – what‘s more likely – didn't want to share about it. The First One was supposed to be some kind of genius or prophet and mastered all the techniques of meditation and levels of wisdom the Ancients had developed to ascend, as a child. Apparently The First One was the only one, at that time, who could switch back and forth between energy and physical whenever he, or she, wanted. The First One’s father was the one who convinced the Alterans to leave their planet instead of engaging in war with the Ori.” 

“Ancient hero worship?” Jackson asked with raised eyebrows. 

LD grinned. “Seems like it. It's not like The First One is a religious figure, but there's some big significance about him – or her - I guess.”

Jackson nodded slowly. “Well, that fills in some of the blanks. So there really was a conflict that made them leave their home world. Who were those Ori? They stayed on Altera?” 

“Oma didn't give me much about the Ori either, but what she showed me doesn't make me want to ever meet them,” Daniel said. “They sought and accomplished ascension, too. But their goal is to rule over every world they encounter. Their philosophy is called Origin, a religious doctrine. Basically it tells humans to worship the Ori as gods or suffer greatly. Their home world is still Altera as far as we know.”

“Okay, we won't go there, then,” Jack said, the knot in his stomach shrunken by sheer will into something he could ignore for now. “One godly species of aliens is more than enough in my book.” He kept wrestling with a new set of lichen and decided he just couldn't do it. 

LD held out his string bag thingy to Jack. “This is what it's supposed to look like.”

“Nice,” Jack said, eying it. “You never cease to amaze me with your many talents, my padawan.”

The kid snorted at the Star Wars reference. 

“And why exactly are you sitting there, doing nothing?” Jackson asked. His bag was almost done, too. 

“I _am_ doing something. I'm watching our food,” Jack said. 

“Being lazy,” Jackson concluded. “Cut some more of this so we can make strings to carry them.”

“I get no respect,” Jack muttered, but pulled his knife to harvest more of the moss-like stuff. “You have another thirty and then we're going to head back.”

As Jack went out on the limb and got to work he heard Jackson prompt Daniel to continue his Ancient tale and tell them about The First One. 

“The First One eventually joined The Others. I still have no idea what exactly it is they are doing aside from watching us. Maybe they're hanging out to study black holes or stars being born or to observe super novas. Or maybe they're studying humanoid races.”

“Is that First One still around?” Jackson asked, taking the new lichen strings from Jack.

“No. But I have no idea what happened. Maybe he... okay, I don’t know if it’s a he or a she, but let’s assume The First One was a guy... maybe he’s roaming the universe on his own, on the search for new, greater, wisdom. Maybe Oma never met him, or she's not too fond of him. That's all she gave me. He had left by the time she started hand-picking people for ascension.”

Jack went back to food watching.

After a while two caramel colored deer appeared at the sandy cove of the lake. Probably smelling the fire, they took their time threat assessing the area before they walked into the shallow water to drink. Jack watched them and, as he admired their gracefully sculpted bodies, thick shiny coat and majestic antlers, felt a sting of regret for having killed one of their brothers today. 

“They're beautiful, aren't they?” Daniel said softly, putting Jack's feelings into words. “I know we don't have a choice, but it makes me feel like we've invaded their world and taken what's not ours. After they’ve lived undisturbed for such a long time.” 

They waited respectfully until the deer had left before they gathered up their new lichens and made their way back to the plateau to collect the food. 

Daniel's lichen string bags were a great help in carrying everything back to the ship. They put banana tree leaves into them so the small berries, dates and mushrooms didn't fall through the holes. Laden with provisions they returned to the gate hopper just as the sky morphed into a blue-purple twilight. 

As the ship soared across the ocean _,_ part of Jack's mind was occupied with how to store away the food; what would go into the freezer, what had to be dried and what would stay good for a while without any preserving treatments. 

They were lucky to have working freezers and stoves. Ancients had to eat as much as humans if they weren't ascended and, with the power coming back online due to their arrival, the kitchen was fully functional; complete with running water, cold and hot, and electricity for cooking. The Ancients had even left a couple of pots and pans behind. 

He was distracted from his thoughts when he felt Little Daniel's gaze lingering on him.

Taking his eyes off the front screen, Jack raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I was wondering if you need my help with the food? Once we have it all in the pantry?” A hopeful look of the puppy dog kind punctuated the words.

Jack pursed his lips, pretending to consider it. But he had promised the Wretch a talk withthe hologram and besides, they could do with a couple of answers. Now that some of their basic needs had been taken care off for the moment it was time to focus on other pressing matters. 

“I can take him,” Jackson offered readily. 

“Of course you are,” Jack said dryly. “And leave me to KP duty, eh?” 

“You'll be bored,” Daniel said with a shrug. “All that talk about Ancient stuff. You'll get cranky.”

“Ask it if there are outposts with power sources on other planets,” Jack said. “Or if there's a way to dial Earth without killing the city in the process.” 

Daniel's head bopped up and down. 

“Oh, and if that Lal-gal is back, ask her to find a way to take us home.”

“Ja-ack, she won't...”

“Aht, it can't hurt to ask, right? Ask very nicely. If she plays the dumb act, whine at her, throw a tantrum...”

Daniel scowled.

Jack smirked and lowered the ship into the hangar. 

*******

“Lantian outposts on fifteen worlds can be reached from Atlantis,” Ganos Lal said in her patient, a little patronizing, voice. She didn’t make eye contact and didn’t seem to be anything but a hologram. 

“Can you show us the gate addresses, please?” Little Daniel asked and a projection of the Pegasus galaxy appeared around Ganos Lal's head, showing destinations. “Are all of these worlds Ancient cities powered by the same sources Atlantis needs to sustain itself?” 

“There are larger Ancient communities on ten worlds, which require the power source you speak off.” 

“Are these worlds inhabited?” 

“The Lantians observed thriving civilizations on those worlds. However, the Wraith ended all life on all but two of them.” As she turned her head two of the marked planets zoomed in. “Athos and Genii remained intact. Please consult the database for further details on each world.”

BD whipped out his pen and scribbled all ten addresses on his hand and arm. It looked like he had ceremonial tattoos all over them and Daniel had to grin. Focusing on the hologram again, he cleared his throat. “We need to dial Terra.”

Ganos Lal slowly turned and the projection of the Pegasus galaxy vanished and was replaced with the Milky Way. “The Avalon galaxy. It is possible to dial Terra from Atlantis. However, please make sure you have permission to do so before you attempt to use the Asteria Porta.”

“Uh, yeah, I'll do that. My question is; Atlantis is running low on power. Dialing the Terra gate will most likely deplete the city's power sources. Is there a way to circumvent this?” 

Ganos Lal frowned. “Is there an emergency regarding Atlantis?

Daniel exchanged a look with BD, then turned back to the hologram. “No. The power sources are just very old.”

The hologram froze for a moment, then sprang back to live. “I have not been updated since the city was abandoned, except for the language database when you arrived. There may be flaws in my programming regarding the time frames.”

BD stepped next to Daniel. “Ah, can you answer our question?”

“I will link with the city's core to estimate the amount of power.” She froze again.

“Jack already did that and he said the city can't keep up the power when we dial out to Earth,” BD muttered. “I'm afraid our best shot to find a working power source are these ten addresses.”

Ganos Lal blinked and said, “The city needs the remaining power to sustain itself. If you are in need of dialing Terra, you must replace one of the crystals in order to be successful.” 

Daniel sighed. Well, he'd known that already. “Thank you.” 

“You are welcome. Is there another subject you want to study?”

“Yes. What can you tell me about The First One?” This was really more of personal interest for him because Oma seemed to have held back with this part of her Ancient history lesson. And he was curious. 

Ganos Lal rotated again to look at him, the expression of a well-meaning teacher on her face not wavering. “The First One reached the highest goal of ascension...”

“What happened to him?” Daniel interrupted impatiently. He knew the basics, he wanted more details. Somehow it seemed important.

Ganos Lal continued, “The First One was born on the ship that left Altera during the conflict with the Ori. The Alterans traveled thousands of years. Many generations lived and died during that journey. The First One became leader and brought them closer to reaching ascension. He spent long periods of that journey traveling the universe, discovering its secrets. Eventually on their journey he returned to human form again and stayed with the Alterans. The First One discovered Avalon for them to settle down.” 

“The Moses of the Ancients,” BD mumbled, raising his eyebrows. “Taking them to the promised land?”

The hologram frowned again. She seemed to be capable of only three mimic features; indulgent smile, lecture face and frowning. “I am not familiar with Moses. The First One eventually reached his goal of teaching the Alterans to ascend successfully. When the city- ship left the Avalon galaxy, he was not among those who had died of the plague that had spread through the Avalon galaxy, but he did not leave Terra with the Atlantis either.” 

Daniel had hoped to gather a bit more information about this First One than he already had. “What did he do all that time on Terra? And where is he now?” 

Ganos Lal switched back into smiling mode. “The First One supported Amelius in building the Asteria Porta so that the former Alterans could spread out across the galaxy. However, the main populations of those who did not reach ascension stayed on Terra. When the plague struck, The First One joined those who ascended and called themselves The Others.” 

“I know he joined The Others. But where is he now?” 

“The location of The First One is unknown. He left The Others at one point and never returned,” Ganos Lal said, then continued. “While among The Others, he enforced the non-interference course the Alterans had always hallowed, even before they discovered ascension. The First One taught that any interference in the lives and evolutions of the lower beings was considered a crime.”

“So this is all his fault,” BD said under his breath, giving Daniel a wry smile. “The whole non-interference clause.” 

“No wonder Oma didn't want to share about him,” Daniel said with a shrug. “They were on the opposite side of the table.”

“Oma deSala has been known to follow her own agenda,” Ganos Lal continued in her lecture voice. “She was made an outcast when she assisted the evil being Anubis to reach ascension. The Others expected The First One to return upon such tremendous behavior, in order to punish her. However, The First One did not return and so The Others punished her in his name for her crimes.”

Ganos Lal fell silent again.

“Maybe he's dead,” Daniel assumed. “If that's even possible.”

Ganos Lal didn't answer. 

*******

“We should go to Athos,” Daniel pointed out when they were in the control room, debriefing Jack about what the hologram had told them.

Jack scowled at the screen. “We might try to look at the uninhabited planets first. Less chance of getting into squabbles with the natives.” 

“But the natives might be able to tell us where to look for the power source,” LD said.

“They also might not be willing to share if they’re using it for themselves,” Jack countered. “And when it comes down to it, it’s them against us. We’re three – they are... oh, I don’t know, a whole city? A continent?” 

They had pulled up all ten planets from the city’s database. All worlds were apparently Earth-like with breathable air, vegetation, animal life and – according to Atlantis' knowledge – had been inhabited by civilizations varying from simple tribes of huntsmen to industrial development era before the Wrath had started attacking them. Athos, one of the still inhabited worlds, appeared to be in the tribe’s era while Genii had cities and a certain level of technology. But Atlantis’ database was millions of years old so there was no way of knowing if Athos hadn’t moved to industrial stages as well and if it was still a thriving development or had been raided by those Wrath too often and thrown back to tribes and huntsmen. It had happened to Goa’uld encountered worlds where whole civilizations had been forced to fall back into the middle ages under the influence of their gods. 

So, basically all bets were off.

“Who knows if there are still people on Athos and Genii,” Daniel said with a shrug. “Or maybe the supposed to be uninhabited planets could be re-inhabited now by people who came through the gate.”

“So we toss a coin?” LD asked.

“We’ll go to Doronda first,” Jack decided. “According to the database it has the largest Ancient city. Chances are good we’ll find a power source there.”

“Ruins,” Daniel said. “Ruins of an Ancient city.”

“They’re all ruins by now, unless other people have moved in to live there,” Jack said. “It’s worth a try. We’ll go through the gate, fly over the city, scan for energy signals. If we find something, great. If we don’t, we’ll try the next one.” He waved at the screen showing a run-down of the planet’s data. “I’m confident.”

Daniel shrugged. Jack was right. One planet was as good a choice as the other, under these circumstances and with what little bit of intel they had. “Me too.”

LD nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

**III**

“There! Do you see it?” Daniel’s nose almost touched the water and Jack hoped he wasn’t going to lose his glasses. Might be a bit difficult to get new ones around here. 

“Yeah, I see it.” 

“It’s huge!” Daniel whispered.

With a quick move of his hand Jack snatched the glasses off the kid's nose just as they began sliding down. 

“Oh, thanks,” Daniel mumbled distractedly – and stuck his whole head into the water to get a better look at their marine life visitor. 

Jack grabbed him by the hood of his shirt and tugged just hard enough to get his attention. When Daniel came up for air, spitting water and blinking rapidly, Jack couldn’t help but shake his head in mild admonishment. “It’s going to bite your nose off.”

“Its shell is fluorescing in all kinds of greens and turquoise. And it has golden sparkles,” Daniel shared, brushing wet bangs out of his face. 

They were lying flat on their bellies on the sun warmed docking platform, gazing into the water where a giant sea turtle was having a plankton snack, sucking or nibbling small shells and weeds from the underside of the platform.

“There’s a file about the turtles in the fauna lab,” Daniel informed Jack. “They are very gentle beings and they only eat plankton and seaweed.” 

They had found the fauna and flora labs two days ago on their wanderings through Atlantis’ many buildings. Daniel had christened them once they had figured out their purpose. There was one bio lab dedicated to the flora of the mainland and, according to the files the Daniels had extracted from the database, there had to be a greenhouse somewhere. Jack hadn’t come across it during his virtual tour of the city, but that didn’t mean it didn’t exist. Or had existed all those eons ago. Now it was probably just ruins. Jack couldn't imagine any plants surviving all this time in a greenhouse without being tended to. 

The other lab housed files about probably any species that inhabited this planet's mainland and the ocean. They had found files of research about animal ethology, food habits and DNA analysis. After eight days of exploring Atlantis they had come to the conclusion the Ancients had had scientists in almost every field of expertise. There seemed to be labs for everything. And they really hadn’t covered much of the territory yet because there was something to awww and oooh over at every turn and corner. 

It was geek-out-heaven. Daniel-paradise. 

Jack's personal favorite place in the city was the astronomy platform atop the main tower. They had found several huge telescopes up there. That, and the gate hopper of course. Jack had practiced his flying skills over the last couple of days, had tested the ship’s limits and found himself as excited as a kid in a toy store every time he accomplished a new daredevil maneuver. 

Jackson just rolled his eyes and stuck to Ancient readings, Ancient labs and Ancient whatsits. Mini-Daniel seemed to be torn sometimes, between wanting to go with Jack, and joining Jackson on the Ancient exploration tours. Most of the time the Ancients won. But on occasions he tagged along for the gate hopper ride and Jack felt just a tiny little bit of satisfaction about the fact his kid chose to lose an hour or two of Ancient mambo jambo to spend time flying with him. 

Little Daniel's gradual loss of the height-fear was probably one of the most significant differences between him and his former adult self – and Jackson. Daniel, no matter what incarnation, had never made a big deal of the height issue, but there was a new self confidence in the little guy that way that hadn't been there before, and wasn't apparent in Jackson either. Jackson would suck it up and climb mountains, fly loopings in gate hoppers or jump out of a plane whenever it was necessary, without batting an eyelid. The Wretch, probably partly due to Teal'c's training, had learned to embrace it. 

If the gate hopper didn't need the Ancient gene to function Jack would have liked to teach Daniel how to fly. Maybe, if they really found a way home... 

As if one cue the knot in his guts was back and he focused on the turtle watch. 

It was nice out here, taking a break from all the explorations of dark corridors, high tech labs and Ancient libraries filled with history data.

Jackson was on KP duty and would hopefully show up with lunch soon. Jack was getting hungry. 

“How can something grow this big on plankton alone?” he asked. 

“It eats all the time. Except for when it swims or mates,” Daniel said, sneaking a hand into the water, fingers edging towards the shimmering shell. 

“If it thinks your fingers are plankton you might lose a couple,” Jack warned, not seriously worried though.

Daniel pulled his hand back, flicking a bit of water Jack’s way. “Stop with the mother-henning,” he whined, not seriously offended either.

“Why is it always _mother_ -henning anyway. Do I look like your mom?” Jack whined back. 

“Well, Jack-henning sounds stupid,” Daniel said.

“There’s that.” _You called me daddy_ , Jack thought. _Do you even remember?_

Not that daddy-henning sounded in any way less stupid than mother-henning. 

Jack was trying hard to keep the henning to a minimum now. 

In return Daniel had been pretty reasonable and mindful of rules and regulations these days. Most of the time he was practically bubbling over with excitement for every new thing they discovered on their city tours, but he had kept the pushing of boundaries to a minimum when it came to touching stuff and insisting on going everywhere at once or skipping meals in order to spend more time in whatever laboratory the Daniels were playing. Of course Daniel had a more than willing alley in Jackson.

Jack was just there to cover their sixes and keep an eye out for any nasty surprises lurking in the shadows. 

So far things had gone surprisingly smooth. No hidden traps, no crawling things, no pesky aliens lurking in dark corners. And the eight planets they had visited were blissfully uninhabited – the downside of that being the total lack of power sources. 

They had flown over Ancient ruins the Daniels had been itching to explore as well, but Jack had put his foot down there. He was willing to give in to their need for investigating and playing Indiana Jackson on Atlantis, but he wasn’t going to chase after them in some totally unknown labyrinth of Ancient ruins if he could avoid it. The pouts had been brilliant, but the argument short lived when Jack had simply turned the ship around and taken them back through the gate to the planet they currently called their home world. 

They had decided to only take one trip through the gate every day in order to be around as much as possible, just in case someone tried to dial in from home. Jack was betting on Carter to find something, anything, to make the gate work the eight chevron address. 

Tomorrow they were going to tackle Athos, one of the two planets probably still inhabited. Jack just hoped the natives were friendly fellas – if there were any left. 

They wanted to go home. Needed to. Even the Daniels, who seemed content to stay as long as there was new stuff to explore and new secrets to uncover, had admitted they missed home. 

And yet... Jackson had been right when he’d said they needed this time-out. This being here together, just the three of them, to recharge after what had happened on Ba’al’s ship and in Antarctica. They didn’t talk about Ba’al anymore; not about the Lo’taur thing or the battle against Anubis. They wandered the huge silent city, slowly covering the lay of the land, the Daniels getting lost in Ancient-world and Jack quietly enjoying seeing Jackson’s eyes losing the haunted look more and more each passing day. And to watch Little Daniel just being alive. 

And if Little Daniel seemed to be brooding sometimes when he felt like no one was watching him, when he wasn’t mooning over some writing or the database or a new room they found... if he and Jack avoided certain conversations in silent agreement... if there was a shadow hovering over the three of them, just at the corner of their minds... There was no need wake sleeping dogs. 

Once or twice one of them had bolted up in bed at night, shaken by a nightmare. And the other two had moved in close without a word, just holding onto each other until they had calmed down again and gone back to sleep while outside the ocean rolled lazily against the city’s docks. 

And sometimes Jack allowed himself to think that if they couldn’t go home, he could get used to this. To the three of them continuing to live here. That, despite everything and everyone they’d have to give up, it might be enough in the end. 

The turtle had finished her snack and was paddling away, vanishing in the depths of the ocean until her shimmering shield was only a dot and then faded away. 

“Anyone care for lunch?” Jackson crossed the docking platform holding a tray laden with plates and bowls. 

“It's about time. I was going to join the turtle munching on plankton,” Jack said, sitting up and holding out his hands to take the tray that was handed down to him.

“Help yourself. Leaves more for us,” Jackson said dryly. “You doing dishes?”

Jack squinted at LD. “His turn.”

“Nuh-huh. I did them yesterday,” the brat said as he pried his eyes away from the long gone turtle and joined them around the tray. 

“You didn't. I did,” Jack said, keeping a perfectly straight face. He even managed to glower.

But of course Daniel probably had a chore list somewhere and jotted down who did what and when. “Nice try, Jack,” was all he said with a smirk.

“I think we should change the rules,” Jack said, “Dishes for two days in a row from now on.”

“Until it's your turn. Then you'll switch the rules right back,” Jackson said and LD sniggered.

“I'm the colonel around here, I can change the rules,” Jack pointed out.

“We're civilians,” LD said.

“No chain of command for KP duty,” Jackson added and they high-fived each other.

“I feel bullied,” Jack sighed and started filling his plate with today's mixture of fruits, strips of dried meat and MRE bread. Soon they had to make a return visit to the mainland for new provisions. They weren't running low yet, but Jack liked stocking up in time. 

They all dug in. It was comfy to eat outside like this with the light sea breeze playing with their hair and the midday sun keeping them warm. 

“Niiice,” Jack drawled, picking up one of the coconut things that had mashed banana spread on it. Sounded weird, but was actually very tasty. The Daniels got very creative and resourceful when on cooking shift. 

Daniel popped a few of the strawberry-like fruits into his mouth, chewed, and sighed. “I miss junk food,” he admitted. 

“Chocolate,” Jackson added immediately with a longing look across the ocean as though he expected a chocolate supply ship to show up at the horizon. 

“Beer,” Jack provided. It was a game that never got old. They just had to keep it light. “Pizza.”

“Those huge fat muffins they serve at Starbucks,” Jackson said, licking his lips.

“Blueberry.” Jack nodded, not staring at Jackson's lips. Not for long anyway. 

“Vanilla chocolate chip,” Daniel swooned, his eyes becoming dreamy. “Caramel Macchiato with a shot of espresso.”

“Coffee,” the two Daniels sighed as one.

“Maybe Fraiser can put you on caffeine IV once we're home,” Jack suggested. 

“That's not the same,” Daniel started to lecture. “It's the smell of the roasted beans freshly ground.” 

“The feel of a full mug warming your hands when you hold it,” Jackson continued.

“The taste of the very first sip.”

“Can you say addicted and withdrawl?” Jack asked. He missed coffee, too, though. 

“I miss my Nintendo,” Daniel blurted out, then blushed an interesting shade of pink and quickly ducked his head. 

“Yeah,” Jack said, not missing a beat, “I miss my yo-yo.”

Jackson thoughtfully chewed on a string of dried meat, jerking bits off it with his teeth. “I forgot how to play the Nintendo. And I never had a yo-yo,” he said after a while. “But I miss my stuff. Books, artifacts, CDs.”

“Even though you're surrounded by the biggest Ancient library there is?” Jack teased. 

Jackson swallowed his piece of meat and licked the salt from his lips. Jack wished he'd stop doing that, it was distracting. “I'm not saying I'm bored. I just miss my own things. They’re familiar and I like my books and artifacts. A lot.” 

Daniel pulled his legs to his body and wrapped his arms around them, resting his chin on his knees. “I can show you how to play the Nintendo. And the yo-yo,” he offered Jackson with a small smile. “When we're home again. Before I forget it, too.” 

Uh-oh.

There it was. The huge pink elephant in the room everyone tried to ignore as best as possible. 

Jackson returned the smile. “Sounds good.”

Jack was raking his brain for a diversion to get the conversation back on safer ground, when Daniel said, “I'm full. Do you mind if I go and pester the hologram some more?” He scrambled to his feet. “Have my body shield and my radio,” he announced before Jack could ask the obligatory questions.

Without waiting for an answer, he spun around and was on his way.

“Yeah, sure, knock yerself out,” Jack hollered after him. He had decided a couple of days ago to give the kid free rein, let him loose on his own as long as he stayed in the main tower and kept in radio contact. They had threat assessed that area inside out. 

Jackson stopped chewing on his dried meat string, his eyebrows knitting into V-form. “Something's bugging him.”

Jack rubbed a hand over his slightly sunburned neck. “I know. He's homesick.” 

He was getting the vibes. 

While they didn’t talk about what had happened, they talked about stuff and people they missed from time to time. They were wondering how Carter and Teal’c were doing, if there was any chance the SGC might be able to contact Atlantis somehow... They tried to keep it light and optimistic. Not as though there was this very real possibility they might be stranded in Atlantis for good. 

But no matter how occupied they were, no matter how much the kid lost himself in all the Ancient stuff – the pink elephant kept sneaking back in... 

“Jack?” Jackson's voice was soft, a little uncertain, a bit hesitant. “I think there's more to it than being homesick.” 

“Yeah. He can't get big again if we can't go home.” Jack picked a handful of berries from the tray and started munching them, their sweetness exploding on his tongue. The knot in his gut was back, but he kept ignoring it. 

“Actually, uh, I'm not sure...” Jackson gave a low cough and cleared his throat.

Jack looked up and was met by worried, intense blue eyes. Very similar to how the little version looked when he knew he had to confess something he'd most likely get in trouble for. Jack raised his eyebrows in return. 

“What?”

“You do realize Daniel has a choice. If we get home, he can get big again. But he doesn't have to.” Jackson blurted out, then ducked his head and examined his dried meat string thingy with great interest. 

The pink elephant seemed to swell on the tray between them until it filled out Jack's inner vision. He swallowed the sticky berries and grimaced. “It's his choice,” he said finally, hearing the razor sharp edge in his voice. “We're not going to make it for him. We're not even going to touch this with a ten foot pole.”

Jackson gave him a lopsided smile. “Actually, that's exactly what I thought a week or so ago.”

“Good. Because we're not giving him any ideas.”

“We don’t have to give him any ideas. He's been mulling this over for a while now. I wasn’t gonna say anything, but the more I think about it, the more I feel you should talk to him.” 

“Forget it. He's not going to stay little because of you and me. He's not sacrificing the chance of getting big again just because we're...” Jack bit his lip and shook his head. 

Jackson nodded and put his meat back on the tray. “I'd never suggest something like that to him and you know it.”

Jack squinted up into the cloudless sky. “I know,” he said, voice gruff. When the silence between them stretched around the fucking elephant, he added, “What are you saying?”

“He called you daddy,” Jackson said.

“And? So? Therefore? His brain was overwritten by Ancient crap.” Jack had decided not to over analyze the 'daddy' thing. Much.

“Which didn't make him stupid. Just very focused on the basic things,” Jackson pointed out.

“So, bottom line this for me? He called me daddy and that means...?” Jack made a whirling motion with his hand.

“While I think your dense act isn't necessary here, let me put it into simple words for you,” Jackson said with mild sarcasm. “When he called you daddy, he probably told you what he really wants. When you went Ancient on me all those years ago, you basically told me you loved me – months before you actually showed up at my place to tell me for real.” 

Jack felt himself reach for that piece of hope, ready to embrace the idea, to jump at it and hold onto it with both hands. But he shook his head. “That's a lot of assumption. He might just have been scared. He goes kiddie-like when he's scared, sometimes.”

“Yesss, maybe. And why do you think he keeps telling us to get together?”

“Jackson...”

“He gave you the mistletoe,” Jackson said softly. 

“To wake you up...”

“To make you see. To make _us_ see.”

“See _what_?” Jack snapped. “He knows we're... He knows. And if that's the reason he _might_ want to stay little, then it's not the right reason.”

“Talk to him,” Jackson said again, a stubborn line appearing between his eyes.

“No.”

“Jack...”

“What do you expect me to do? Ask him what he wants? And make this even harder for him because he knows about you and me? He'll sacrifice his chance to get his life back in a heartbeat if he thinks it'll make us happy. That's not gonna happen. Besides, we can deal with this when we're home again. If we ever get home again. Right now there’s nothing we can do about it.” Jack closed this conversation and surged to his feet. 

Of course Jackson had other ideas.

“So you're going to leave him alone with his dilemma, let him figure it out on his own. What if he can't? What if he needs your help?” Jackson stood and they were facing each other.

“I can't make that choice for him,” Jack repeated flatly. “This isn't about me. Or you.”

“It's about all three of us. This has stopped being a black or white decision for him a long time ago. And he's stuck between a rock and a hard place just as we are.”

Jack closed his eyes briefly, knowing Jackson was right. He had noticed the less than enthusiastic reaction to the prospect of 'getting big again' on Daniel's part. He had put it down to the fact that Daniel had been through a rough time and that the idea of the upsizing just had to sink in to be fully embraced. God, there had been nothing the kid wanted more, nothing he'd longed for with so much passion. For so long it had been Daniel's only goal. To get his life back. To be an adult again. He'd mellowed some after the Egypt trip, had given his new childhood a chance once he knew it wasn't going to be permanent. But still, he'd never said anything about wanting to stay little. The upsizing had always been high on his to-do-list. 

When exactly had that changed? And had it really changed? Or had Daniel just gotten used to being a semi-child and was now dreading all the new struggles the upsizing would bring? 

But who was Jack to help Daniel to figure out what he wanted? How could Jack talk to him about this without giving away that having to say goodbye to the kid was like tearing his own damn heart out. 

“I can’t,” he said flatly. “I can’t help him. Because he’ll know....”

“Jack,” Jackson said, voice low pitched and soothing now. “Don’t you think he already knows? Don’t you think knowing how you feel about the upsizing is part of what’s making this so difficult for him? Aside from the me-you thing?” 

“And that’s exactly the point. He can’t make this decision based on my feelings. Or yours.” 

“Let him know you're there for him no matter _what_ his decision will be,” Jackson said urgently. “And I don't think you should put this off much longer.”

“He knows I'll do whatever has to be done to help him getting big again. I don't have to spell it out for him.” 

“And that you'll keep him if he decides to stay little.”

Jack let out a calming breath. “He knows that, too.”

“He needs to know that, whatever choice he's going to make, you're going to be okay with it. Or at least that you will be okay eventually. He needs to know we're going to make the effort somehow, to... to work this out. That there's not one of us too many if he gets big.”

And with that the pink elephant exploded into Jack's face. 

Because _how the hell_... “How the hell are we going to make it work? You got any insightful thoughts about that? He won't remember. He'll be back to thinking we're lovers. How do I tell him; hey, I still love you, but you turned into my son and here's that new Daniel in my life. You can keep your room and the dog and I'm going to give you lots of hugs, but sorry, sex is out of the question?” Jack threw up his arms and waited for the come back. 

Jackson shook his head. “I don't know.”

“You don't know? C'mon, you kept thinking about it, you must have a theory. An idea? A hunch?” Jack was more desperate than annoyed. Because now that they were actually talking about it, he REALLY could use one of Jackson's more brilliant solutions. 

“No, I don't know. But if we can't deal with this, one of us is going to leave, sooner or later,” Jackson said matter-of-factly. 

Jack stared at him, the knot in his gut growing and twisting. “It's a lose-lose situation.”

“We have to try. We owe it to him. Because that's what Daniel really wants. What he always wanted, his whole life, ever since his... ever since our parents died. A family. One he's not going to lose again,” Jackson said. “And as a family, now and later, we have to face this together.”

Jack wondered if drowning himself in the deep deep ocean might be an option. 

“I'm willing to try. But I think Daniel needs to know you're going to be prepared for whatever happens. You can't keep avoiding the inevitable by pushing it under the O'Neill rug and sticking your fingers into your ears. You can't go on leaving him in limbo, having to make a life altering choice for all of us alone.” 

Jack felt himself blanch at the calm words thundering in his ears.

“It has to be HIS decision. For all the right reasons.” He felt like a broken record. When Jackson just looked at him, the stubborn line between his eyes deepening, Jack huffed an annoyed breath and snapped. “Oh, for cryin' out loud, Daniel... You want us to make a crisis management plan and show it to him when he's big again? And expect him to accept it? What exactly IS it you’re saying? That we should make this polyamory if everything else fails?” 

Jackson blinked slowly. “You’d consider that?” 

“NO! I’m NOT considering that. Are you nuts?” Why did one of the Daniels always manage to get him so totally off balance that he wanted to tear his hair out? Why? Jack gaped at adult Daniel in some kind of paralyzed shock. “You’re not telling me that’s what you’re suggesting here.”

He shrugged. “Well, I’m an anthropologist and the concept of non-monogamy isn’t...”

“ _Jackson!_ ”

Jackson’s lips quirked into a rueful grin then. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist. I’m actually amazed you even know the word.”

Jack blinked. “What?”

“Polyamory. You should have seen your face.” 

“Fuck you,” Jack grated out, furious.

Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Sorry. No, of course that’s not what I’m suggesting. But the dynamics are going to change if he gets big again and no one can tell how things will turn out. I think that scares him. Hey, it scares us. If there’s a way we can all remain friends, we have to find it together. That’s what I’m saying. And while he’s still little and is trying to make the decision, he needs to know we support him no matter what his decision will be.” 

“We’re stranded here! We’re not going anywhere and as long as we’re not going anywhere the whole upsizing issue is off the table,” Jack pointed out bewildered. 

“And that would be the best solution for our little problem, wouldn't it? Then let's not go to Athos. Let's stay here and make a living.” 

“Wasn't that what you wanted all along? Stay here? Why are you making it sound like chickening out by taking the easiest road?” 

Jackson gave him a sad smile. “Because we can't change who we are. And we all want to go home and see our friends again and continue our work and open up Atlantis for the SGC.”

“And because Daniel deserves a real choice,” Jack said, finally acknowledging Jackson was right..

“Yeah.”

Jack started picking up the leftover food and the tray, when he felt a weird buzz in his head, drowning out any thought. He let go of the tray and everything clattered to the hard ground of the dock as Jack's hands shot up to his head. “Crap!” 

Jackson stared at him, alarmed. “What?!”

The buzzing dropped to gentle vibrations and Jack blinked a couple of times. “I... The gate's going to open.“

Fin  



End file.
